Nothing left to fear
by chocolateFrog.xo
Summary: There was nothing he’d wanted more in the world than to hold her, breathe her scented, long, red hair and to kiss those lips that once promised to bring happiness he’d never known before..." Post DH.
1. Chapter 1

**1.**

* * *

When Harry woke up, the dim light of the dying sun was entering through the window's glass. He spent some minutes there, lying on his bed, a little bit confused by the time of the day he had chosen to wake up. He took consciousness that he had not changed the position of his body since he had fallen asleep with his clothes all covered in mud and blood.

He got up, feeling every aching muscle of his body stretch. He threw a glance at Hogwart's Grounds while he sat on the window's sill where he had always sat since he was eleven. There were tiny black spots moving in and out of the Castle and he thought that they had probably already started the Castle's reconstruction labours, and exhaled a long and heavy sigh, unsuccessfully trying to put away the happenings of the day before in some dark corner of his troubled mind. He solved that he couldn't stay there forever, hiding from everyone else's guilty looks, just because the idea of looking at his friend's eyes and finding in them his own pain and remorse reflected there, was unbearable. However, he got up and took a shower before going down to the Common Room and passing through the empty Portrait Hole to the halls.

There were almost no people in the corridor. Harry supposed that everybody would be downstairs, at the Great Hall. When he got to the gates, he stood there for a second. He heard the frail rumor of conversations spoken in very low voices and felt like if he was already in Remus, Tonks and Fred's funerals. Shaking those ideas off his mind Harry crossed the threshold and the second later the rumor stopped. Every single look in the Hall was dedicated to him, and even if Harry was so accustomed to this kind of welcomings, he thought that he had never felt so disturbed by one of them.

He took sight of the Weasleys and Hermione immediately. They were the only ones who weren't looking at him, a fact that the boy didn't miss. He was sure that they were trying to avoid him and felt another wave of guilt. He took a seat next to Hermione, who was the only one who had noticed his arrival, because when he sat down they all looked gave him a shy smile and he looked down.

"Oh, hi, Harry" greeted Mr. Weasley with a very hoarse voice. "We were waiting for you."

Harry forced a weak smile. Mrs. Weasley, whose eyes where swelled and red and had her sight fixed on some undefined point on the wall, gave a soft snort when she heard Harry's name. She lay her eyes, that had the colour of autumn leaves and were so much like Ginny's on Harry's greens, who was fighting back the impulse to look down at his trainers. In fact, he wouldn't have been surprised if the next second an avalanche of reproaches had been thrown against him. He wouldn't have blamed her. But no. What Mrs. Weasley did next he never would have expected. She got up from her seat, a disbelieving look on her eyes, and threw herself towards him, hugging him so strongly that he could barely breathe. She was sobbing uncontrollably.

"Harry… Harry! I thought... We thought… Two of my sons in one day… I wouldn't have been able to… Oh, Merlin!"

He had no idea what to say, what to do, for he had never expected such a reaction from Mrs. Weasley. Of course, as he had never really had a mother to support him (and, needless to say, aunt Petunia had never been precisely motherly to him) Mrs. Weasley had always been the closest person he'd ever took for a mother. But, though he was aware that there was a very close bond between him and the Weasleys, and that they had proven to be more of a family than the Dursleys, his consanguineous relatives had ever shown, he never thought that they could actually take him as their son. And what was more, they didn't even blame him for the loss of Fred. He couldn't find words big enough to describe how grateful he was, and even if he found them, he was sure he wouldn't be able to use them, for he had a huge lump in his throat.

When they broke apart, he started looking for Ginny's eyes, but when he found them, she had a terrible, cruel look on her eyes. She got up from her seat next to Ron, who looked at her, astonished, and disappeared through the gates, after throwing at Harry one last look filled with hate.

* * *

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, Jay Key Owns.**

I really hope you like my very first attempt at fanfiction :) I know this chapter is really smal, but it's more of an introduction than a proper chapter so I promise the next ones will be longer.

Oh! And I know how this looks like, but no, Ginny's not jealous of her mom! haha

Please R/R? :) Thanks!


	2. Chapter 2

**2**

* * *

Hermione and Ron threw a meaningful look at him. Harry nodded and the three friends got up from their seats and headed to the school grounds. While they made their way out of the Castle, Harry's mind was rushing, trying to find but one rational explanation for Ginny's behavior. After all the time they'd been apart, all the longing and all the trials they had to go through, he was sure that there was not a reason why they could not be together once again. In fact, there was nothing he'd wanted more in the world than to hold her, to breathe her scented, long, red hair and to kiss those lips that once promised to bring happiness he'd never known before. But now things were so uncertain… What if Ginny blamed him for her brother's death? What if she had found solace in someone else's arms during his absence? What if…?

"Harry," said Hermione on a subtle voice. Ron and she had been walking behind him, holding hands. He didn't notice but now he realized that he had quickened his pace while making up all of those not in the least constructive scenarios. "Harry, I know what you are thinking, but listen to me, Ginny has just lost her brother." At this point she held Ron's hand even tighter and her voice broke a little. "She must be very confused and angry to take full consciousness of what has just happened." He averted his eyes from his friend's comprehensive look and composed a weak smile. It was so typical of her to know exactly what everyone was thinking and feeling.

"We know you, Harry" This time it was Ron who spoke. "We know how you turn anything you do into another stupid reason why to blame yourself for not being able to save everybody. Fred is dead! My brother is dead and there's nothing any of us could have done to prevent it! He knew what he was doing; and so did Lupin, and Tonks. I don't blame you at all. Nobody's blaming you, mate... So stop whining already! It's not going to help them coming back!"

"But if I had given myself up sooner-"

"Stop always trying to be the bloody hero, Harry!" Ron cried. "We all chose our paths when the time came and I don't think any of us would have chosen a different one even if we knew how this was going to end. I know I wouldn't. You must face that. And so must Ginny, if she doesn't want to spend the rest of her life regretting letting you down."

Ron's eyes were brimming with fierceness and Harry thought that he had never seen such a look on his friend's face and was sure that Ron's change was a product of his recent experience with the locket. Hermione looked at him with pride and wiped a tear that was streaming down her cheek. The trio continued their way and when they got to the Lake and its shining surface that was reflecting the last rays of a very red sun, Harry heard a sound that he hadn't heard since he was in his second year at Hogwarts.

A soft but extended sob was heard. Harry turned his face to a big oak by the lake. The tree's branches were moving lightly with one of the first summer breezes of the year. Sitting by the shade, holding her knees and with her face buried inside was Ginny, crying.

Hermione looked up at Ron, who looked reluctant. Then he gave Harry a quick glance that definitely meant something like "I'm warning you, Potter!" and walked back to the Castle, still hand in hand with Hermione.

Ginny had still not noticed Harry's presence. She continued on with her pitiful sobbing, shaking with violence. She had lost all of her usual strong and stubborn expressions and looked like a little girl. She seemed so tiny, as if she was eleven once again and Harry had just saved her from the basilisk. Her fire-like hair, which was usually tied casually in a ponytail, was now loose and fell in messy locks, covering her face.

"Ginny" Harry called almost in a whisper, and he was surprised of how weak his voice sounded.

She winced and looked up at him. She immediately got the hostility back in her eyes. She brushed her hair out of her face and looked him with fake disbelief, as if she couldn't believe he was still standing in front of her after he had committed the most shameless of atrocities. She got up and stared at him with hate. Harry tried to keep her gaze but it was very difficult to look straight into those eyes and see so much hatred written in them. She was breathing hectically and he waited for what was next. And it happened. Ginny slapped him with deliberate strength. And a second time. And a third time. When the fourth time was coming Harry held her arm and looked at her, almost pleading.

"Ginny… " he said for a second time. "I know why you are so angry but I swear I didn't mean to… I never wanted Fred to-"

"What!?" she cried in disbelief. "You think this is about Fred!? You seriously think I'm blaming you for his death?"

"Wait- what?" he unconsciously let go of her hand.

"You disappeared! For months! I had no idea whether you were death or alive! I begged you to take me with you!" She was now out of her mind. She furiously stepped forward and Harry stepped back with fear. "Curse you and your god damned necessity to always play the hero! You bloody Chosen One! And you come back here and push me away again when I wanted to help you!" tears began to make their way down the freckly cheeks again, except these were angry ones. "I haven't heard from you for months! All I could do while sitting in Auntie Muriel's stinky house was pretending I was being of any help at all, wondering if you ever thought of me, and praying you were still alive." her voice broke. She had passed from looking helpless to dangerously angry to helpless again. Her eyes gazed around, probably trying to find a word that could possibly describe how she felt, maybe hidden deep within the Forbidden Woods. Her breathing had turned very fast, as if she had run a hundred kilometers without a break.

On one side, Harry felt terrible for how much pain Ginny had (and would have) to go through, and it killed him to see her looking so lost and broken. Nonetheless, he couldn't help but almost smile at the fact that she had longed for him just as much as he had missed her.

Ginny held her own body with strength and looked up at Harry almost hesitantly. And Harry held her in a tight embrace. He buried his face in her hair and took a long breath of her delicate floral scent. And Ginny hugged him back so hard she almost left him breathless.

"I thought you were dead." She whispered.

"I know, I'm sorry." He breathed back.

"No, Harry," she sighed. "I am sorry. I let myself lose control and dumped all my anger and pain upon you. It's not your fault."

"There were several times when we were about to get ourselves killed out there, Ginny. You have no idea how I would feel if I had also lost you," he said.

"Yes, I know; you would have felt guilty" She said looking down. He chuckled a little and put a strand of her hair behind her ear. "And, Harry, for the record…"

"Yes?"

"I don't blame you in the very least, you, silly chosen one, prat."

He smiled and pressed his lips to hers, with the first stars of the night sparkling blissfully on the sky vault.

…

When they got back to the Common Room they found Ron and Hermione snogging passionately on a sofa in front of the fireplace. Harry was about to clear his throat but Ginny was quicker:

"It's about time!" she exclaimed, and Harry heard her laughter for the first time in months, and smiled.

Ron and Hermione broke apart, wincing.

"Ginny! Harry! You startled us!" Hermione complained as she put a hand over her chest, but she then noticed that her friends were holding hands and gave them a beaming smile.

"We could say the same, little sis'" Ron observed, with a crooked smile. "Have you got over your existential issues?"

"The only existential issue I've got is dealing with the shame of having a brother who was too much of a coward to tell his feelings to the girl he loved for so many years," she pointed out.

Harry and Hermione laughed, the last one, nervously, and then sighed.

"So this is it, no?" she asked to one in particular, looking at the night sky through the window. "I still can't believe it's over."

"You will have to believe it, Hermione," Harry told her. "Voldemort's gone, and he will never be back. He will kill no more people, nor destroy any other family," he assured.

"Uhm… Harry? There was something I wanted to ask" said Ron. "What happened? When you... left."

Harry looked at his friends. They all had suddenly gotten very silent. He closed his bright green eyes for a moment, choosing the words very carefully. When he opened them again he started telling them the story, from the Prince's Tale (keeping to himself his mother's childhood memories) to his conversation with Albus Dumbledore.

At this point the other three were amazed. Hermione covered her mouth with a hand, Ginny's eyes were wide with shock and Ron's mouth was slightly opened.

"Harry, I don't know what to say." It was Hermione who broke the silence with a low whisper. "Are you saying that you, somehow, have managed to survive the killing curse… twice?"

"I still can't believe it myself" he answered. "But Dumbledore knew what he was doing. I should've trusted him all along."

She gave him a smile full of understanding and stroked his hand.

"And what had you been doing all these months?" asked Ginny.

It was now Hermione's turn to tell the story. She had to explain her from the beginning, so she had to tell her about the prophecy and the Horcruxes. She then started telling them their story since the moment they had left the Burrow. And when she came to the part where Ron had left (he started moving uncomfortably on his seat) she totally missed that part and told the rest of the story as if he had never left (much to the boy's relief and gratefulness).

Ginny looked horrified. She looked at Harry, almost angrily.

"You guys are so brave…" she said in a faint voice. "I would've given anything to be there with you and help out!"

Then the Portrait Hole was opened once again and a tall redhead man entered the common room. It was George.

"We're staying at the Three Broomsticks for the night," he announced.

There was something really odd about George. He was George, but he didn't look like himself. He didn't sound like himself either. That couldn't be George. George was Ron's brilliantly funny older brother. This was a young man that seemed forty years old and spoke with a voice that was anyone's but his own. His voice was fast and brimming with joy and cleverness and this man's voices was slow, hoarse and rough.

"George" ventured Ginny, doubtfully. "Are you sure you don't want to spend the night here with us?" He looked at her little sister absently.

"No, no; it's fine. I will go and… Mum and dad…"

Ginny stood up and hugged her brother.

"I love you, George," she said and seemed to finish with what was left of George's strength.

He collapsed on an armchair and covered his face with his hands.

"God, I can't do this…" he admitted with suffocated voice from covering his face.

"Of course you can, George! Don't be stupid!" Ron exclaimed, forcing George to look him in the eye. Harry, Hermione and Ginny's jaws literally dropped. There was no way that Ronald Weasley was actually talking like that to one of his older brothers. ""You weren't Fred's only brother, nor was he yours! There's still six of us left, in case you haven't noticed!" Now would you please stop acting like a complete git and pull yourself together!"

George stood up and for a moment it looked like he was going to punch Ron in the face, but he didn't. He just turned back and exited through the Portrait Hole.

"Ron…!" said a very scandalized Hermione. He looked at her and opened his mouth as if he was going to say something but immediately closed it again and looked down.

"Ron, you're such an idiot!" spat Ginny, throwing a very menacing look at her brother and making him shiver, before she followed George through the exit in a furious pace.

She returned a little while later. She said that she wasn't able to find George and refused to talk to or look at Ron for the rest of the night.

"I think we should go to bed now" Hermione observed looking at her watch. "I can't believe we've been here for five hours straight! It's past midnight! Tomorrow will be a very long day…"

As the girls didn't really want to spend the night in the deserted girl's dorms, they followed Harry and Ron to the left side of the stairs, where the boy's dorms lurked.

Harry lay down on his bed, followed by Ginny, who lay in his arms.

"Wotcher' Harry! It's my sister you've got there!"

"It's my sister you were snogging a while ago and I wasn't making a drama out of it" He smiled as a response and made a wink to Hermione, who smiled back.

"Shush it already! I want to sleep…" complained Ginny, whose eyes were slowly closing.

Ron shut off the lights with Dumbledore's heirloom and growled some unintelligible words. Hermione laughed and also lay down, spooning her body into Ron's back.

Having woken up not that long ago, Harry thought he'd lie in bed for a while before falling sleep. But Ginny's sweet perfume and regular breathing acted as a lullaby and it wasn't long before he also fell asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Sorry Guys! Chapter under reconstruction! :)


End file.
